Beaufort County library system to extend hours at three branches

Scott Thompson/Bluffton Today The Bluffton branch of the Beaufort County library system, located at 120 Palmetto Way, is one of three branches in the county that will be extending its hours from 40 to 50 a week, beginning March 3.

Scott Thompson/Bluffton Today The Bluffton branch of the Beaufort County library system, located at 120 Palmetto Way, is one of three branches in the county that will be extending its hours from 40 to 50 a week, beginning March 3.

Scott Thompson/Bluffton Today Henry E. Rebmann Sr. of Bluffton works at a table Thursday at the Bluffton library.

Scott Thompson/Bluffton Today Henry E. Rebmann Sr. of Bluffton works at a table Thursday at the Bluffton library.

The Beaufort County library system will be extending hours at three of its five branches next month, and the system hopes to employ more workers by then to help staff the hours, library and county officials announced last week.

The branches in Bluffton, Beaufort and Hilton Head Island will be open 50 hours a week starting March 3, an increase from the current 40 hours for all branches.

The changes include opening the libraries during evening hours. Under the new times, the three branches will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 1 to 5 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. All branches will remain closed Sunday.

The St. Helena Island and Lobeco branches will remain at 40 hours, but the other three are the most visited, library system director Wlodeck Zaryczny said Wednesday.

The county authorized the library system to hire 17 additional full-time and part-time employees last fall to help staff the extra hours, Zaryczny said. Those hirings must be approved by the county’s Employee Services Division.

As of Wednesday, deputy county administrator Bryan Hill said, his office had signed off on four new employees and several promotions, but Zaryczny said about a dozen spots still need to be filled.

“We hope to fill most of those by March 3,” Zaryczny said. “The interviews are going on now. We have rotating teams conducting the interviews, and we think those are going quite well.

“It’s been moving slow, and we already have a skeletal staff as is, so we hope we can fill some of these positions and get the new people hired and trained as quickly as possible.”

Hill said the system’s budget has been reworked to help fund the extended hours through the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.

Questions and confusion arose after Beaufort County Council approved a $166,000 increase to the $3.97 million budget in June. While council members thought the allocated money would be enough to extend hours from 40 to 50 a week at all branches but the Lobeco one, library officials said the funding, which includes salaries, wages, fringe benefits and operations, was only able to cover existing hours and staff.

The library’s board of trustees eventually asked for an extra $300,000 to extend hours at the Bluffton and Beaufort branches. Council denied the request and chairman Paul Sommerville summoned the county administration in September to review the budget.

Hill then directed the system to hire new employees within the original budget. He maintains the money necessary to hire the additional staff and take on the extra hours is there.

The system, Hill said, has underspent its budget by about $300,000 over the last four years by holding positions vacant. That money, by county rules, goes back into the county’s general fund, and therefore, council approved the budget increase in June.

“There’s such a high volume of turnover within their staff that they can’t keep the staff level at 100 percent,” Hill said. “Based on the amount they typically return, (the $166,000) should be enough.”

In June 2011, library hours were cut from 68 to 40 a week because of countywide budget cuts that resulted from a downturn in the economy, Zaryczny said. As a result, the system has had to apply for a waiver of a rule that requires at least one branch to be open 68 hours a week to be eligible for state funding. The state money accounts for about 5 percent of the system’s 2014 budget, Zaryczny said.

Hill said the system is working to improve its efficiency, including the use of self-checkout machines and automated handling of materials, to help trim its expenses. That may be necessary, since the county is considering budget cuts in an effort to address rising health care costs, county administrator Gary Kubic has said.

While 50 hours might not be the 68 the system eventually wants to restore its operations to, Zaryczny said he is glad to at least be extending public access for the first time in two and a half years.

“We’re thrilled, and we know the community is thrilled,” Zaryczny said. “We’ve had customers asking us to improve on our hours. What we’re really about is providing a service to our community to the best of our ability, and I know folks will be happy with this news.”